Welcome to the current news events blog of Billy David Dickson. On this blog Billy will post his thoughts on events in the news and some other things. . On this blog you can also listen to Billy's radio show. I hope you will be blessed by your visit.

Monthly Archives: April 2012

Twenty years ago, Los Angeles erupted in riots after four cops were acquitted in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, but during an uprising supposedly in the name of justice, some people got away with murder.

During the five “Days of Outrage,” a disbelieving nation watched on television as looters broke store windows and emptied shelves, Korean grocers sat atop their stores with assault rifles and fires were set throughout South Central and other parts of the city. Beatings, including the brutal one administered to truck driver Reginald Denny, were captured on video by news crews.

“Can’t we all just get along?” pleaded King as the city was plunged into violent chaos. The phrase became a rallying cry for a city determined to heal after being torn apart by racial divisions.

The police were overwhelmed, and the National Guard was called in to help quell the violence. When the mayhem subsided five days later, nearly 1,600 buildings were destroyed or damaged and more than 2,300 people were hurt. The final cost of the riot was estimated at more than a billion dollars, including $735 million in property damage.

“Can’t we all just get along?”
– Rodney King, motorist whose beating by police led to LA Riots

But the human toll is the most disturbing legacy of the riots. Some 53 people were killed in what police have classified as riot-related homicides and accidents. Of those, some 22 homicides remain classified as open and unsolved.

The dead for whom justice remains elusive include a 15-year-old boy shot as he stood on a corner, a Good Samaritan who tried to douse flames set by a crowd of angry looters, a hard-working immigrant who insisted on making grocery deliveries even as his neighborhood burned, a suburban man shot when he came to check on his store and John Doe No. 80, whose identity may never be known.
( Billy’s Thoughts – What happened in LA was sad and sick. Yes bad things have happen in our nation but that gives no one the right to do wrong to others. No matter what one thought of the jury ruling in the beating of Mr. King we are a nation of laws. Read more of the above story right here.)

A California pro-family leader says one Democratic mayoral candidate is engaging in “political pandering” by seeking to name a ship after a late homosexual politician.

Congressman Bob Filner (D) of San Diego has asked the Navy to name a ship after late homosexual activist Harvey Milk. The mayoral candidate thinks Milk, who served as a Navy officer in the 1950s, should be honored because of his “support for equality” in the military.( Read why this is a bad idea )

As the United Methodist General Conference continues in Tampa, denomination officials are coming down to the wire on whether they will make changes to church policy regarding homosexuality.

For more than a decade, homosexual activist groups have targeted Episcopalians, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the United Methodist Church for acceptance. Pastor Stephen Sparks of the First United Methodist Church in Indianola, Mississippi, is at the UMC’s General conference and says those groups have put a lot of money into the effort.

“We have been able to track anywhere from $3 [million] to $6 million from outside organizations that have been targeted towards changing the stance of these mainline denominations on homosexuality in order to mainstream the homosexual lifestyle,” Sparks reports.

The good news, he says, is that committee reports for the Saturday deadline do not call for a major change to the denomination’s biblically based stance on homosexuality, though activists and liberals could force a vote before the General Conference.( No change expected )

BEIJING – U.S. and Chinese officials are ironing out a deal to secure American asylum for a blind Chinese legal activist who fled house arrest, with an agreement likely before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives this week, a U.S. rights campaigner said Monday.

Bob Fu of the Texas-based rights group ChinaAid said that China and the U.S. want to reach agreement on the fate of Chen Guangcheng before the annual high-level talks with Clinton and other U.S. officials begin in Beijing on Thursday.

“The Chinese top leaders are deliberating a decision to be made very soon, maybe in the next 24 to 48 hours,” Fu said, citing a source close to the U.S. and Chinese governments. Both sides are “eager to solve this issue,” said Fu, a former teacher at a Communist Party academy in Beijing whose advocacy group focuses on the rights of Christians in China and who maintains a network of contacts in the country.

Chen, a well-known dissident who angered authorities in rural China by exposing forced abortions, made a surprise escape from house arrest a week ago into what activists say is the protection of U.S. diplomats in Beijing, posing a delicate diplomatic crisis for both governments.

The U.S. Embassy declined comment Monday either on Chen’s situation or talks involving Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.( Read more )

“When a high-profile Catholic congressman is mangling church teachings, that should be challenged,” John Gehring, Catholic Outreach Coordinator for Faith in Public Life, the organization that put together the statement, told POLITICO.

In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network Ryan said that his religious convictions influenced his budget plan, claiming that the proposal reflects Catholic teachings of local control and concern for the poor.

“[T]he preferential option for the poor, which is one of the primary tenets of Catholic social teaching, means don’t keep people poor, don’t make people dependent on government so that they stay stuck at their station in life, help people get out of poverty out onto life of independence,” said Ryan.

“If Rep. Ryan thinks a budget that takes food and health care away from millions of vulnerable people upholds Catholic values, then he also probably believes Jesus was a tea partier who lectured the poor to stop being so lazy and work harder,” said Gehring. “This budget turns centuries of Catholic social teaching on its head. These Catholic leaders and many Catholics in the pews are tired of faith being misused to bless an immoral agenda.”
Indeed, 59 Catholic leaders along with theologians took issue with Ryan signing a scathing letter that slammed the budget plan.
I believe in helping the poor but I don’t believe that help should always come from Uncle Sam. When Jesus said to feed the poor he was not talking about a big government program he was preaching to the church. These spiritual leaders instead of being so hard on congressman Paul Ryan should instead think of ways their churches can help those in need. Too often people of faith blame government instead of giving the hope they have which no government program can give. If you like you can read more on this issue by clicking here.

A well-regarded Republican strategist at a private gathering recently warned, “And just wait until they play that Mormon card.” By “they,” he meant the Obama campaign and its complicit media cheerleaders.

Lawrence O’Donnell, only days later, gave his viewers a historical tutorial on the Mormon religion, darkly suggesting that we all should be afraid, very afraid. The Democratic governor of Montana, Brian Schweitzer, called Mitt Romney’s grandfather a “polygamist.”

This is actually good news for the Romney campaign.

By making Romney’s Mormonism an issue, the Obama campaign has, as trial lawyers like to say, “reopened” the issue of religion. The Romney campaign can therefore revisit the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Obama’s close relationship to him. True, Obama apparently severed ties to Wright, but Obama did so only after the very salvation of his first presidential campaign depended upon it.

Wright, Obama’s pastor for some 20 years, was described by Obama as his “spiritual advisor.” Wright married the Obamas, baptized their children and blessed their home. One of Wright’s friends is the anti-Semitic advocate of racial separatism, Minister Louis Farrakhan. “Trumpet Magazine,” published by Wright’s daughter and formerly promoted on the church’s website, once honored Farrakhan in a cover story as a man who “truly epitomized greatness.” In the article, Wright lauded Farrakhan as “one of the 20th and 21st century giants of the African-American religious experience.”

There is, of course, the infamous YouTube excerpt of Wright shouting: “We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye …. We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.” And understand, Wright gave this blistering attack against America the Sunday after 9-11!
( Billy’s Thoughts – The above column was written by Larry Elder. While I believe the Mormon Church is not a true Christian Church I believe Rev. Wright teachings have hurt America more. Read the whole column)

An Omaha man accused of stealing from the Lord’s house has tried to make amends by returning some items pilfered from west Omaha churches.
Ethan J. Silrum, 38, met Tuesday with the pastor of Westside Church and asked for forgiveness in connection with the theft of a $3,500 acoustic guitar.
“I prayed with the young man,” said the Rev. Byron Cutrer,Westside worship pastor. “We’re about forgiveness and mercy and grace.”
However, there are consequences to actions, and Silrum faces a felony theft charge in Douglas County Court.( Read the rest of this story )

One of the largest Bible translators in the world has agreed to an independent review of its policies after criticism over how it handles the terms “God the Father” and “Son of God” in some translations.

Critics say Orlando, Florida-based Wycliffe Bible Translators has omitted the terms from materials used in mostly Muslim countries to avoid controversy. Wycliffe CEO Bob Creson says the organization is just trying to accurately present the gospel message to a diverse array of communities.( Muslim compromise )